


Prologue One Shots

by Anshishoku



Series: Ancient Au [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Dragon Keith (Voltron), F/F, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Mention of Getting Together, Merperson Lance (Voltron), One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Prince Keith (Voltron), Prince Lance (Voltron), Prologue, Random Encounters, Young Allura (Voltron), ongoing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-04-08 10:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19105294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anshishoku/pseuds/Anshishoku
Summary: these are one shots from before the current first story.





	1. Chapter 1

Archaic was, well… _old_ , right? Yeah, it was old. That was kind of in the name.

 

Old enough that the current populace had had their ‘origin story’ so to speak, how Ancients were first created, muddled and changed and altered, to the point where they just gave up. There was a planet, they were on the planet, and so on so forth. Good enough.

 

The planet was split into its separate climates, so the leadership should be as well. The Water Ancients’-known on Archaic as Syrens-current leader was their Queen. They ruled by Matriarchy, all of Archaic did, so Her Highness was usually away on missions with the Fire Ancients’-Draegons’-Queen.

 

On one of these mission, they happened to run into the freedom fighters. This had started with a misunderstanding, as everything always does, but they struck a good friendship with them. Good enough that King Alfor of Altea had invited them to a ceremony for his only daughter, Princess Allura, celebrating her birth.

 

The Queens were surprised to hear of this, when they first received the letter. Queen Krolia of the Draegons was unsure, as was Queen Camila of the Syrens. They had discussed it until almost hours before their needed departure time, and settled on going, taking their young sons Prince Lance and Prince Keith with so they could be introduced.

 

Alfor wanted them to meet his child, so why not let him meet theirs?

 

Queen Camila actually had four other children, but they were all either busy with their training or on diplomatic missions of their own. Prince Lance was happy to spend time with his mother though, and not only her but Prince Keith (Queen Krolia’s only child) as well.

 

Prince Lance and Prince Keith had been inseparable since they were born and met. The longest they had ever been apart was their incubation period, if you want to count that. Adorable, really.

 

On their way to Altea, which was a pretty fast trip on the back of a Space Dragon, Queen Camila made sure to drill into Prince Lance and Prince Keith all kinds of manners, rules, and every lesson of etiquette known to the universe. She informed them about aliens that they knew weren’t even going to be there. Worry warts, turns out, are universal.

 

At their arrival, they may have spooked a few Alteans; big, scary, purple Draegon and all. But Alfor welcomed them with open arms. Literally. Apparently, he was still a child because he hugged Queen Krolia’s leg while she was in Draegon form, saying stuff like ‘ _quiznack it’s a Draegon that’s so cool Coran get a picture of me and the Draegon_ ‘

 

When they finally had everything calmed down, Alfor, with pride, showed them his wife and newborn daughter. Queen Melenor was kind and sweet, and the way she readily shot her husband’s attempts at tomfoolery down made her down right respectable. He also introduced his long-time best friend and Princess Allura’s godfather, a strange, orange-mustached man named Coran. He often spoke about history and told lore stories. If anyone other than Prince Lance noticed the sad looks he gave to Alfor behind his back, nobody had shone it.

 

Queen Camila was the first to hold Princess Allura, and she held the newborn with such ease that is was a little astonishing to the Alteans. Queen Camila was a Syren, obviously, and Syrens were clingy, sociable, and often had large families. She came from four siblings and had five children of her own. If ever you have a nervous Syren, give them a baby to hold. They melt immediately.

 

Little Princess Allura was pretty adorable, giggling when Prince Lance would make silly faces at her or softly cooing when it was his turn to hold her. The two were a sight for sore eyes. The Altean Princess just _loved_ Prince Lance, and he loved her, getting a little dopey while holding her even (Syrens and kids, am I right?). If anyone noticed a certain red Draegon being a little miffed, nobody said anything.

 

Then Queen Krolia was holding her. The Prince was extremely reluctant to let go of her, but relented. Draegons usually gave off an intimidating sort of presence, it came with the territory of being able to shift into a giant creature, but the Princess didn’t seem to have any problems. She wasn’t as playful as she was with Prince Lance, but she didn’t cry or anything.

 

Queen Krolia, ever the stoic character, looked at Alfor with a straight face and said, “She will be a strong warrior. I sense it.” Only Queen Camila and the other Ancients knew that those words weren’t worth shit. Draegons couldn’t sense anything like that, but Alfor, with his childish adoration of Dragons and pride for his daughter combined, he believed Krolia whole-heartedly, telling anyone else for the rest of the day that a Draegon told him she would be a great warrior. Queen Camila couldn’t always keep from laughing, confusing many.

 

And finally, it was Prince Keith’s turn. Keith didn’t really like kids, but not in the sense where he couldn’t stand them. Obviously any kid could be annoying. Some could be brats for no absolute reason. Some could demand things that just weren’t reasonable. All pretty good reasons for one to decide that all of them are shit.

 

That wasn’t Keith’s problem. Look, he’s from a planet where his usual surroundings are lava and fire and explosions. Just this morning he was walking his way to the Black Lake wading through rivers of magma. Doesn’t hurt Keith of course, he’s a Draegon.

 

But not all kids are Draegons. Most kids are pretty weak. They cry just by being held by the wrong person or get hurt by the sun from looking through a window. They’re _fragile_. And that makes Keith paranoid.

 

So when she’s set within his arms by his mother, neither Ancient nor Altean did anything. They seemed to just look at each other, assess each other. It was baffling. Not one peep from the previously giggling baby.

 

They started getting worried actually. Not worried like they thought Prince Keith was hurting her or she was in pain. But when any child just goes quite, you kind of have to check them, because that could mean anything right?

 

So they do, or were about to, when Princess Allura’s tiny arm suddenly goes up and meets one of Prince Keith’s horns. The Draegon Prince, ever adorable, follows the movement with his eyes. He looks cross-eyed at the tiny fingers touching the ridges and moving up and down over them.

 

Neither of the two did anything for a few seconds, before the others present burst out laughing. Alfor, Coran, Lance, and Krolia were doing nothing to hide it, laughing loudly and unabashedly. Melenor and Camila both had hands in from of their mouths to cover their giggles.

 

The day got easier from there. Allura was constantly passed around people, but she seemed happiest either with her parents or Lance. Prince Lance had embraced this, promising the Altean royalty that he would be her big brother. He pulled Keith into it as well, saying they’d love to see her again.

 

Alfor laughed, but promised so.


	2. Chapter 2

Archaic was a planet made of quintessence, right? Yeah, even though the water or lava is obviously _real_ , it was heavily relied upon in everyday life. Draegons used quintessence to transform into their larger forms. Syrens used it to swim in water or walk on land. It’s a very big deal but is so minuscule in thought because it’s a natural thing on Archaic. Hell, it was a large part of their reproduction and incubation process!

 

Oddly though, the legends of the Voltron reached them and no one thought anything of it. Anything of the fact that the Blue Lion was created with the quintessence of the oceans and seas of Altea. The Blue Paladin was from a planet of water and was said to move like it despite his burly figure.

 

So when the Ancients formally met the Lions, no one expected both Lance and Camila to drift over to the Blue Lion and the Lion to welcome them. Blaytz even swore she was _purring_. No one had thought of it, and the Syrens weren’t even sure what was happening, they were _drawn to her._ After some discussions and communicating, it was realized that as a symbiotic being made of quintessence from water, and living creatures fueled and raised _within_ water quintessence, they were similar living creatures. Queen Camila, without Krolia here to help defuse the situation (she was better at the serious discussions), was worried she had offended them and apologized profusely.

 

But apparently Blue filled Blaytz in who filled everyone else in that Blue had just been so excited to meet people that were so similar to her. And with everyone so focused on Blue and the Syrens, nobody noticed the side eye glances Red and Prince Keith seemed to be sharing. Keith was smiling by the time everyone regrouped, and when Lance asked what that meant, Keith scrambled to make up a reason, which Lance adored, settling on saying that he was just thinking of something from another day. When further questioned, Keith distracted Lance by bringing up some dumb thing the Syren did, which immediately made Lance embarrassed and start defending himself.

 

Lance only told this to Keith, but Blue’s words, the ones meant for Blaytz, he could hear. Or, not hear as Lance said, but like, _feel_ , or something. He said it was hard to describe, it being like hearing blue through a wall or something. Keith was already paranoid at what Red’s attention to him meant, so he just nodded. But what did this mean?

 

None the less, outside of Archaic work, Lance spent a lot of time with Blaytz, asking him about his adventures, or about Blue, or about fighting techniques. Anything and everything. He became somewhat of a father figure, one Prince Lance had never had with his two moms.

 

Blaytz was curious of this child, the one that followed him around. Also of the fact that he had connected with Blue, and Blue refused to stated exactly why. But he was a cute kid and asked him about all of his adventures, and who was Blaytz to deny such a request?

 

He had once invited Lance to meet his husband, and Lance had looked like Blaytz had just promised him everything. The Syren was ecstatic and it was funny to watch him worry over what to say or what to wear. He had noticed the Draegon that watched Lance as well, sometimes tailing him around and other times actually coming with him but not saying anything. It was so obvious though and Blaytz just wanted to shove them both in a closet at some point.

 

Lance was like the son Blaytz never had though, and it sadly remained that way till the end.


	3. Chapter 3

Just a normal day on Archaic.

 

It was supposed to be anyway. But then the royals were sent a message, which was a broadcast to all alien channels from a previously-known-dead Galra King. Zarkon informed his own people and other Aliens that Alfor and Altea had betrayed him and Daibazzaal. By the time the broadcast ended, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

 

Zarkon had said he promised to get his revenge on Altea, no matter what, and that he would come for the Lions of Voltron. Prince Lance and Prince Keith were hit harder than the other Archaic royals, remembering their childhood with the Princess Allura. They hadn’t seen her since she was about five deca-phoebs, but they had formed a deep bond with her.

 

They wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t remember them, but that didn’t matter now. She would be dead in hours, all because Zarkon couldn’t listen to Alfor about what was happening to Daibazzaal.

 

They pretty much collapsed on the floor of the Black fortress, the meeting ground for royalty and officials built on the Black Lake. The various others in the room gave them looks of sadness and pity, not meaning to but it just happens. Neither noticed of course, too caught up in turmoil.

 

By the time they could peel themselves from the floor, they knew it had to be too late. _Too late_ to save their precious little sister. _Too late_ to save the cheeky brat who had gotten them to confess to one another. _Too late_ to save the stoic and stubborn girl that played ‘Princess and the Princes’ with them. They mourned her.

 

Hours after, Lance felt it. He couldn’t describe how he knew, or what it meant, or why _him_ , but he felt it.

 

The Blue Lion.

 

It was on its way here and sure enough, when they had scouts look for it, a giant blue mecha cat was flying at them with the speed of light. It continued flying, through the atmosphere, into the bottomless ocean, down, down, _down_. And behind it, was a giant fleet of Galra. About three warships and dozens upon dozens of fighters and more.

 

There didn’t seem to be a speck of hope for them, even with the very new information that Lance could sense the Blue Lion and possibly fly her.

 

Before they were even given a chance, Keith and Lance were sedated and put to sleep, and carefully placed within the Blue Lion, who arose from the sea when it understood what the royals’ plans were. By placing Prince Lance and Prince Keith into the Lion, she would hide herself away and when the time was right, they would awake.

 

Their world would not be the same, but they would be alive and they would have each other.

 

Camila hoped Lance would forgive her. She kissed her son’s forehead after her partner and other children did, riddled with grief that she could not save her remaining kids. But the Blue Lion was only ok with them adding Keith to her charge because of his relationship to Lance, and the second they were both placed in a stable position, she started leaving.

 

Krolia and her husband had hugged Keith, tucked a small bag into his arms, and placed him in there. And the Blue Lion sunk. Camila’s kids dove in the water to watch and travel with it till they couldn’t handle the pressure, preparing themselves for the inevitable.

 

 It was a fast end. That, they could be thankful for. The Galra bombed the surfaces of the Planet and poisoned the water with chemicals from the ships, making sure to weed out every last Ancient as payback for keeping the Blue Lion from them.

 

They were unable to retrieve the Lion, thankfully. It had manipulated the quintessence of Archaic itself, stowing away in the center of the planet. Even if the entire surface layer was gone from the planet, the Lion was there, waiting and abiding it’s time, in mourning for her previous paladin as well, and for that, she slept a long, long _, long_ time.

 

But no matter how long it had truly been, when one woke up, a wound would still be fresh. Fresher than anything else, because it was only fresh to them, and the isolation was almost as unbearable.


	4. Chapter 4

 

"Wait, you've never played hide and seek?" Lance gasps. 

"No…" The child responds with sadness, as if that made her unable to play.

"Don't worry, that's okay Ally! We'll teach you!" Lance knelt in front of the Altean. He cupped her tiny chin, and raised her face. "Just copy me. Cover your eyes like this," He placed both hands over his eyes. "And then you'll count to….hmmm…let's go with ten for now. You'll count to ten and then come find us, okay?"

Allura nodded. "Ok!"

Lance stood, readying to go hide, before he realized something, and pointed at her. "And no using quintessence to find us! Your father wanted you to learn to rely on more than just your magic."

Allura pouted, but nodded eventually.

"Ready? Set…Go!" As Allura covered her eyes, Lance and Keith ran to look for a hiding spot within the garden.

"One, two, three, f…..fo…..what was the next number?" Lance heard this and desperately wanted to tell her, but he hadn't the time. "Four! I got it! Oh right! Five…"

Keith was already hiding, having flown to the top of the gazebo, sitting atop like a perched bird, Lance thought with a chuckle.

"Eight, nine.."

_Shit, gotta move_

Lance finally found something catch his eye. A small pond. It was barely bigger than a large bathtub, but he couldn't very well make it impossible, now could he? He tipped his toe in, sighing as his body touched the water, his home. He lowered himself and sat up to his biceps in the pond.

He was still moving around when he suddenly heard shuffling by the bushes. In a split second decision, Lance grabbed a lily pad and placed it on his head. He then crouched his shoulders under the surface as best he could and waited.

"Lancey? Where are you?" Allura's voice sing-songed. "Keeeeeef?" She drew out the 'e' sound as she turned the corner.

Lance finally saw her curtain of white hair as she came closer. Her blue-purple eyes looked around, searching for anything out of place. As she walked closer to the sitting area near the pond, Lance got more and more nervous.

Some ducks were swimming around in the water just behind Lance, he could sense it. Allura and the ducks got closer and closer. Allura, for what it was worth, truly seemed stumped. She mumbled to herself a few times about not using her magic, ' _No Allura, Lancey said not to_.'

Lance was so focused on Allura, that he hadn't realized just how close those ducks got. A sudden snap and sharp pain in his pointed ear made him shoot up in the pond faster than Keith running from a diplomacy meeting.

"Ow, what the hell!" Lance shouted, holding his ear and forgetting about Allura.

"Ha! Found you!" The Altean pointed at him and cheered.

"No! That stupid duck bit off my ear! I call a rematch!" Lance said back, stepping out of the water.

"Nuh uh! I still have to find Keef!" Allura jogged back around the corner and started looking again. Lance slowly followed behind her and as they came to the center of the garden, where they had all started, he saw Keith lounging atop the gazebo still. Their eyes met and Keith smirked at Lance, taunting him. Lance stuck his tongue out in response.

"Lancey!" Allura called.

He walked over to where she was staring at a bush of juniberries. "Yeah Ally?" He crouched down next to her.

"I think I know where Keef is." She whispered.

Lance decided to play along. "Oh yeah? Where is he?" He whispered back.

"He's gotta be in this bush of juniberries. He's red and purple like them, so it's the perfect hiding spot for him." She declared quietly at the bush no taller than Lance's mid-thigh and no wider than his shoulders.

Lance carefully turned just enough that he met Keith's eyes. The Draegon's eyebrows lifted in question and a slight smile was on his lips.

"Yeah, I bet that's exactly where he is Ally. But how do we get him to come out?" He asked her with mock seriousness.

"Hmm, we could bribe him?" Allura said.

Not what Lance was expecting, but alright. Sure, let's bribe the Draegon.

"With what?" He countered, still holding Keith's gaze.

"Ooo! I know!" Allura turned to Lance, who quickly pretended to be looking at something else. Allura winked at Lance, a full face wink that could only work with children, then looked back at the bush. Lance's eyes returned to Keith's. "Keef~ If you come out now, Lance'll give you a kiss!" She shouted.

Lance and Keith both went red and Keith jumped a bit in surprise, effectively making him lose his balance. Lance could only watch as he toppled backwards and fell to the grass.

"There you are!" Allura ran towards Keith as if she hadn't just been saying he was in a bush. "You must really want a kiss from Lance if you jumped out that quickly!" Allura said to a blushing Keith.

"W-what? No! No, I-I don't-I-err! No I don't, Ally!" Keith's face was getting darker than his scales.

"Then why are you always staring at Laney's lips when he's not looking?" Allura asked innocently.

It was Lance's turn to be embarrassed now.

_Keith was….He was staring at my lips? He….wanted to kiss me? Does he…_

Keith's face was the color of juniberries by now, and he abruptly stood, opening his wings wide and flying straight up and away.

"Keef?" Allura's voice sounded so soft, a little sad even. She ran back to Lance, who was still in shock. "Did I say something wrong? Lancey did I hurt him? I didn't-I didn't mean it!" Allura's eyes began watering and her eye scale glowed a soft pink. Lance had been aware that Altean eye scales glowed when faced with strong emotion, but he'd never seen it on Allura.

Thick, fat tears rolled down her cheeks and she began sniffling. "I didn't mean it, Lancey! I didn't, I promise!"

Lance was shaken from his daze. He sat up quickly and pulled Allura into his arms. "No, no Ally, it's not your fault. You didn’t mean any harm. It's alright, everything's gonna be alright." He held the crying princess to his chest, trying to figure out what to do. He looked to the skies, trying to see if Keith was still up.

Allura ended up falling asleep and Lance carried her back to the castle. There was a commotion when the king and queen saw the tear tracks and asked what happened immediately. He lied, which was bad but he didn't need anyone gossiping about him and Keith, saying that she tripped and scuffed up her knee, and then got tired on the way back.

Lance said goodbye, and pretended to go to the usual leaving docks. As soon as he was far enough away from the castle, he tried to reach his senses out to find Keith. Because his senses were for under the sea, he was having a really hard time.

It was beginning to get dark, and Lance knew that if he didn't contact his mom, she'd get worried. He pulled out his communicator and just sent off a message saying he and Keith were going to stay over instead of flying home now. She said that was alright and that Krolia was okay with it as well. One thing less to worry about, Lance supposed.

Where had Keith gone? Lance was basically just walking through the creepy woods by now and still no sign of Keith.

"Keith? Keith! Shout if you can hear me! Keith?" No response.

The mega-structural rings surrounding Altea made the light of it's moons bounce and glitter across the sky. Lance stopped and stared up, just gazing at the spectacle. Would he find Keith? He was beginning to lose hope now, and Lance hadn't a clue what to do. The only place Lance could easily find him in was water and there was no way Keith was there.

"Keith," He spoke in a normal voice instead of shouting this time. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I really just want to talk to you. I'm not gonna make fun of you or something, I promise. I'm getting scared now. Please Keith." He whispered the last plea, sitting down in the open meadow he found himself in.

Lance hugged his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, staring at everything and nothing all together. He lost track of time, having sat there for hours, or maybe just minutes. All Lance knew was that he had fallen asleep, lying on his side and curled up.

_Crap, how long have I been here?_

He moved to sit up, but felt something leathery shift atop him. He fully looked at what was before him, finding a red and purple wing resting on his shoulder like a blanket. Lance's eyes traveled up the wing structure to find Keith, who was silently staring at him.

"Gah!" Lance jumped back. "Jeez, you scared me, jerk." Keith said nothing. His face was emotionless. The Draegon retracted his wing, and sat up, across from Lance. The moonlight shone from above made Keith's eyes sparkle, and Lance was enchanted.

_Oh yeah…the kiss thing…does he…does he feel the same way though?_

"Keith-" Lance began, but Keith interrupted him with an apology.

"It's creepy, I know. I…I understand if you don't want to…b-be my...my f-friend anym-more." Keith had tears streaming down his face by the time he finished, his voice cracking.

Lance had two options before him. He could try to talk Keith around this and reason with him and all of that, or he could do what the characters in his sisters' romance novels that he pretended to hate did and just kiss Keith right here. The former was less 'romantic', but for Keith, it was definitely the better option. He could put option two away, maybe for later.

"No, Keith. _No_ . You can't just get rid of me that easily. I'm not going anywhere, and I swear to _Syren_ if you try to fly out of here before we're done, I'm gonna…..I'm gonna do something that you'll regret. Now, what is this business I hear about you staring at me, hmm?" He lifted his eyebrow and smirked at the last part.

Keith blushed, and lifted his hand to wipe away some of the tears. "It's not-I don't-Not very-I……It's not very often…." Keith finally got out in a small voice. He fidgeted with his finger tips, not daring to look at Lance.

Lance grinned and leaned closer. "So, say I wanted to kiss you right now, what should I do, Keith?"

Keith's head shot up, cheeks tinted but face reading as surprised. He blinked a few times, then blushed some more, before looking away again. "I can't stop you…." He replied shyly.

Lance took that as a hint. He scooted closer, and raised one hand, cupping Keith's chin in much the same way he had to Ally earlier. He rubbed Keith's cheek with his thumb, looking back and forth between his eyes and lips. Keith's hands parted and fell, resting themselves on Lance's legs. They pressed into his leg a little, giving away Keith's apprehension.

"Don’t mind if I do." Lance leaned down, and kissed him.

It was difficult to describe. The softness and vulnerability streaming between the two in that moment was tantalizing. But it was so _good_. Keith's hands moved to Lance's shoulders and Lance's hands moved to Keith's waist. The Draegon shook and the two parted. They breathed in the darkness of the meadow, all quiet around them. Lance's eyes were sure to be glowing in this darkness (and they were, which distracted Keith).

The two looked at each other for a second longer, glanced at the others lips again, and they were gone. Lance tilted his head to the left and Keith did the same, deepening the kiss. His hands pressed into Keith's side, and the Draegon hummed in his throat. Keith's hands at Lance's shoulder pulled just enough to give Lance the message, and they fell, Keith lying on his back and Lance over him. They continued to kiss, even when Keith's wings wrapped around the two of them and forced Lance closer.

When the need for oxygen finally caught up with them, they parted, and panted. They didn't move, nor did they speak. Just stared at each other in this moon-lit meadow.

Lance was the first to move, and he shifted to lay his head on Keith's shoulder, laying down next to him.

"Keith I-"

"Lance-"

Both paused for a moment, and then they promptly burst out laughing. Chuckling still, Lance wiped at his eye and sighed.

"I think we feel the same, Keith…" He said,

"I…How do you know that for sure though? We may be on completely different pages for all either of us know."

Lance sat up a little, and stared down at Keith. "Well, unless you're telling me that you don't like me, then I guess-"

"Of course I like you!" Keith said a bit loudly. His blush returned as did Lance's grin.

"Aww, prickly, emo Keith said he likes me. Ooooo, Keef's in loooove~ Oooo!~" he would have kept going, but Keith pulled him down and shut him up with a kiss. Oh man, what terrible punishment. Poor Lance.

"Oh shut it." Keith pouted when he released him.

Lance smiled and returned to his previous spot. The two watched the night sky, chatting about nothing and everything. Who knew what the future would hold for them, but in this moment, in the solitude of the meadow, they were happy and satisfied.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what other One-Shots you'd like me to write.


End file.
